President Shares Mid-Semester Update with MMI Community
MMI cadets, families, alumni and friends:
At this time of year we would normally be in the final days of our Spring sports season; we would have just completed our annual Alumni Weekend; and we would be gearing up for the Spring Formal and the final events that mark the end of the academic year. Of course our world looks a little different now. Despite a quiet, empty campus, we are still executing our education mission and maintaining contact with our cadets through a variety of communications means to include recurring live virtual updates and student success recognition. We will continue this through the end of the semester.
MMI is happy to announce that we have developed plans for virtually conducting our traditional end-of-the-academic year ceremonies. These ceremonies are now going to be changed from what were originally scheduled to two weeks later to be live-streamed from the historic MMI Chapel via three formats simultaneously – Zoom, Facebook and Instagram. The Service Academy Program Convocation will proceed on Wednesday, May 20th at 4:00 p.m. Central Time (CT). Honors Convocation is Friday, May 22nd at 4:00 p.m. CT. Commencement will go on Saturday, May 23rd at 10:00 a.m. CT. The MMI Army ROTC Department will conduct the virtual Commissioning Ceremony on Saturday, May 23rd at 1:00 p.m. CT.
Out-processing and the barracks move-out for our Early Commissioning Program (ECP) cadets (ECP) is now scheduled for May 11 – 22. The plan for this is being coordinated by the Army ROTC Department directly with our ECP cadets and will include various coronavirus mitigation measures. Similarly, we have also developed a detailed plan for out-processing and move-out for all remaining cadets to take place at the end of May and early June. Exact dates and details of this plan will be forthcoming and disseminated via various means.
Regarding the question of reimbursement, we have completed a plan for a prorated reimbursement for all cadets who were enrolled at MMI after March 16 and through the end of the Spring 2020 semester. The business office will begin issuing reimbursements in the coming days in accordance with guidance from our higher headquarters, the Alabama Community College System.
Finally, I wanted to thank everyone again for the patience and perseverance that has been demonstrated and made apparent since we went to remote operations after Spring Break. At MMI we will continue to do all we can to support our cadets and their education, and at the same time to keep all of our constituencies, from cadets and their families, to our alumni and friends, up to date and connected despite the challenges of remote instruction, shelter-in-place, and tele-work. We will get through this crisis so long as we do it together, after all, that is what we as Americans have always done.
Colonel David J. Mollahan, USMC (Ret.)
President, MMI